1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the vending arts generally and more specifically to vending machine delivery systems for determining whether a product has actually been delivered to the consumer after a customer order.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many vending machines lack the ability to detect and confirm whether an ordered product has been actually delivered to a customer after an ordered vend event by the customer has occurred. A common type of vending machine, referred to herein as “home switch” systems, always assume that the ordered product is available for delivery and that the product is successfully delivered upon completing one vend cycle.
However, such vending machines often fail to deliver the product after the vend cycle for various reasons, including improper installation of the products by the vendor's sales representative or obstructions in the delivery path. Thus, presently in such systems, after paying for the product and a vend cycle occurring, the customer fails to receive the ordered product, resulting in the customer becoming frustrated with the vending company, affecting customer relations and vending sales.